Oh dear!
“High excise is not the cause nor lowering it the solution to illicit tobacco” Emeritus Professor Simon Chapman AO
Simon doesn’t suggest what caused dramatic boom illicit cigs. His solution: keep doing what’s already failed but harder!
@algore09algor.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social
Renaming EVALI to reflect that nicotine e-cigs were not the cause remains critically important. I am hopeful that with
Jay Bhattacharya at the helm at CDC, our 2021 petition signed by 75 experts will be given a second look and this scientific misclassification corrected.
"EVALI" is possibly the most horrific health misinformation tactic I have ever seen. It stands for "E-cigarette or Vaping-Associated Lung injuries.
PROBLEMS:
"E-cigarette or vaping": logically equivalent to "mice or mammals"
The lung injuries were caused by illicit THC vapes, not nicotine vapes
More: This gives the Trump CDC an opportunity to right a serious public health wrong that has also impeded a transformation of the marketplace to far safer, alternative nicotine products.
Dr. @mikepesko.bsky.social asked acting CDC Director @drjbhattacharya.bsky.social to rename "EVALI" (E-cigarette, or Vaping, Product Use-Associated Lung Injury), which wrongly links deaths from 2019-20 to nicotine vapes: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
See onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/....
New paper! @mikepesko.bsky.social & @rachelylfung.bsky.social find no meaningful evidence that e-cigs crowd out NRT sales, cessation prescriptions, quitline calls,or smoking quit attempts, suggesting e-cigs reach smokers not interested in quitting otherwise. www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
This is unacceptable: “The price of regular gasoline in the United States jumped 25 percent from February to March, the highest monthly percentage increase on record.” A Record Jump in U.S. Gasoline Prices Is Squeezing Consumers www.nytimes.com/2026/04/10/b...
A report on the personnel process, such as it was, at
@FDATobacco prompts me to think about the human beings involved & the impact the tumultuous past year has had on those dedicated & hard-working people and the productivity of the Center for Tobacco Products.
tobaccoreporter.com/2026/04/02/f...
I really enjoy these puzzles too!
A new study reports youth using e-cigarettes “to get high from nicotine.” That caught my attention.
“Getting high” doesn’t reflect how nicotine is actually experienced. And when such language is wrong or misleading, there are consequences.
See my new Substack: substack.com/home/post/p-...
This is the right trend - one that will, over time and with concerted effort in multiple sectors, both reflect and contribute to tremendous public health gains.
I'm looking forward to this event next week. Lots of impressive panelists. It will be an honor to participate with them. You can attend this event online or in person.
Looking forward to seeing you!
Well done, Charles. Here is my post on my analysis with recommendations on how best to accelerate progress (save more lives!) going forward:
bsky.app/profile/cdou...
FDA just released 2025 teen nicotine vaping, smoking and nicotine pouch use numbers (top left).
So I decided to put FDA's graph in a slide with the Y axis set honestly at 100%, rather than 8% (top right). Most kids, BY FAR, do not use nicotine.
And that use is dropping (bottom left and right)
Youth cigarette smoking in the U.S. is now just 1.4%. Youth vaping has fallen 74% since 2019. The new National Youth Tobacco Survey tells a story we should be celebrating. I wrote about what the new data really show—and what it means for moving forward more effectively: substack.com/home/post/p-....
This updated but also greatly rehashed study has been debunked here:
Arielle Selya, arielleselyaphd.substack.com/p/the-update...
With additional comments:
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
If you respond, friend, please make it purely substantive and not ad hominem.
The @nytimes spotlights the disastrous and widespread illicit trade for cigarettes in Australia: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/15/w.... Australia is harming health by reducing access to safer alternatives, keeping more people smoking, and by misusing taxation to drive many of its citizens to more smoking.
The thoughtful commentator Claudio Teixeira has shared his latest observations in "England, After the Smoke," an analysis of falling smoking rates in that country, where #vaping has helped reduce lethal combustible tobacco use. I was honored to contribute. www.disobedientmargins.com/p/england-af...
This forecast of plummeting smoking rates has huge meaning for the health & well-being of millions in our society. Government must help - while the people choose. clivebates.substack.com/p/the-future...
I have 2 goals: Reduce preventable DEATHS and reduce teen nicotine USE. I know these goals carry different moral weight (death is final; use changes). But these are my goals.
I share CDC, NIH and peer-reviewed evidence to achieve that. e.g., Here is what's ACTUALLY happening in the USA:
A new study from an expert team of researchers has found that "people who used ENDS products [i.e., nicotine vapes/e-cigarettes] specifically to quit smoking were more likely to achieve smoking abstinence." www.tobaccoinduceddiseases.org/Cigarette-sm...
The return of vapes (e-cigarettes) to 6,000 @Walgreens stores for the first time since 2019 is a welcome move, especially with growing evidence that nicotine vaping is more effective than nicotine medications in helping adults quit smoking. Progress!
cspdailynews.com/tobacco/walg...